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Fan substitution between North American professional sports leagues

Author

Listed:
  • Brian M. Mills
  • Jason A. Winfree
  • Mark S. Rosentraub
  • Ekaterina Sorokina

Abstract

We use Canada-to-US border crossing data to estimate market penetration and fan substitution across sports leagues. We find that passenger car crossings into the US increase by more than 2000 when the National Football League's Buffalo Bills are playing a home game just across the border. This accounts for as much as 5% to 8% of Bills home attendance. Additionally, we find evidence of price competition, but not quality competition, between the Bills and Toronto-based teams in the three other major North American pro sports leagues. Given the exclusive market rights and antitrust privilege extended to professional sport in North America, these findings have important implications with respect to competition policies as they apply to major sports leagues.

Suggested Citation

  • Brian M. Mills & Jason A. Winfree & Mark S. Rosentraub & Ekaterina Sorokina, 2015. "Fan substitution between North American professional sports leagues," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(7), pages 563-566, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:apeclt:v:22:y:2015:i:7:p:563-566
    DOI: 10.1080/13504851.2014.957437
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kevin Mongeon & Jason Winfree, 2013. "The Effects of Cross-Ownership and League Policies Across Sports Leagues Within a City," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 43(3), pages 145-162, November.
    2. Rodney Fort, 2004. "Inelastic sports pricing," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(2), pages 87-94.
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    6. Seth R. Gitter & Thomas A. Rhoads, 2010. "Determinants of Minor League Baseball Attendance," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 11(6), pages 614-628, December.
    7. Brian M. Mills & Mark S. Rosentraub, 2014. "The National Hockey League and Cross-Border Fandom," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 15(5), pages 497-518, October.
    8. Jason Winfree & Jill McCluskey & Ron Mittelhammer & Rodney Fort, 2004. "Location and attendance in major league baseball," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(19), pages 2117-2124.
    9. Jason Winfree, 2009. "Owners incentives during the 2004-05 National Hockey League lockout," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(25), pages 3275-3285.
    10. Jason A. Winfree & Rodney Fort, 2008. "Fan Substitution and the 2004-05 NHL Lockout," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 9(4), pages 425-434, August.
    11. Anthony C. Krautmann & David J. Berri, 2007. "Can We Find It at the Concessions? Understanding Price Elasticity in Professional Sports," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 8(2), pages 183-191, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Oliver Budzinski, 2011. "The Institutional Framework for Doing Sports Business: Principles of EU Competition Policy in Sports Markets," Working Papers 108/11, University of Southern Denmark, Department of Sociology, Environmental and Business Economics.
    2. Tim Wallrafen & Tim Pawlowski & Christian Deutscher, 2019. "Substitution in Sports: The Case of Lower Division Football Attendance," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 20(3), pages 319-343, April.
    3. Tim Wallrafen & Georgios Nalbantis & Tim Pawlowski, 2022. "Competition and Fan Substitution Between Professional Sports Leagues," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 61(1), pages 21-43, August.
    4. Dirk Semmelroth & Bernd Frick & Robert Simmons & Hojun Sung, 2022. "Where to Go Next? Examining the Effect of Franchise Expansion and Location on Game-Level Attendance in Major League Soccer," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 23(5), pages 524-547, June.
    5. Brian M. Mills & Michael Mondello & Scott Tainsky, 2016. "Competition in shared markets and Major League Baseball broadcast viewership," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(32), pages 3020-3032, July.
    6. Lahvicka, Jiri, 2010. "Attendance of ice hockey matches in the Czech Extraliga," MPRA Paper 27653, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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